Different Types of Rajput Paintings

December 17, 2013 September 12, 2022

Rajput painting is one of the brightest chapters in the history of Indian Miniature Painting. These paintings are known for their high quality and finer details.

Some call them Rajasthani Paintings also, but this nomenclature has varied opinions. In 1916, the famous Ceylonese historian Anand Coomarswamy did the first remarkable scholar work on the classification and nomenclature of Indian Paintings. He concluded that the theme of the Rajput paintings is related to Rajputana as well as the hill state of Punjab (of that time). Thus, he divided the Rajput Paintings in two parts viz. Rajasthani (concerning to Rajputana) and Pahari (concerned to Jammu, Kangra, Garhwal, Basholi and Chamba). Since the rulers of these states were Rajputs, he used the term Rajput Paintings for all of them. Thus, here we find two different schools under the Rajput Paintings as:

Rajasthani School of Paintings: It covers the areas of Mewar (later Udaipur), Jaipur, Bundi, Kota. Kishangarh, Jodhpur, Bikaner etc.
Pahari Paintings: It includes paintings of Basohli, Kangra, Guler, Nurpur, Chamba, Mandi, Haripur and Tehri-Garwal. Each of the schools is a complete unit comprising many sub-schools.

Rajasthani School of Painting

Though there been some example of Pre-Mughal paintings of this school, yet this school took a definite shape only by the turn of the 17th century. The Maru-Gurjar painting is one term which collectively denotes all the paintings in Rajasthan. The earliest form of this Maru-Gurjar painting is the Western Indian painting style that started taking shape in 8th century. Under the Royal patronage, various styles of paintings developed, cultivated, and practiced in Rajasthan. In the 13^th century, a Mewar Jain painting style developed in the form of small illustrations of the Jain Tirthankaras and some themes from the Kalpasutras. This was followed by a various transformations in the Maru-Gurjar paintings finally, we have the four principle schools of Rajasthani paintings.

The Rajasthani Paintings are broadly of two type viz. Courtly and Literary. The paintings of courtly type include the portraits of the rulers holding different states of Rajputana. Most of these rulers have been depicted either as holding the courts or doing some past time such as hunting. The literary paintings on the other hand show the intimate connection with the poetry. These are the illustrated versions of some of the important literary works such as Amar-Sataka, Sur Sagara, Rasamanjari, Rasikpriya etc.

Factors leading to development

Two major factors contributed greatly to the development of Rajasthani Paintings. First, the commercial community of Rajputana was economically prosperous. Second, the revival of ‘Vaisnavism’ and the growth of Bhakti cult provided a direction to the development of a distinct school. The influence of poets and seers like Ramanuja (worshipper of Vishnu) in the 14th century and writers like Jaydev (worshipper of Krishna) greatly influenced thinking, spiritual awakening and art of the people of large parts of India. The Rajasthani School, akin to many others, was influenced greatly by the advent of Ramananda, Tulsidas, Kabir, Raidasa etc. This is how the subjects of the Rajput paintings included the Sri Ram Charit Manas, Geet-Govinda, the divine love of Radha and Krishna, ancient tales, lives of saints, Baramasa (monthly festivities of the year) and Ragamala (Rag-Raginis) and religious texts such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvat Purana, Krishna Lila and Devi Mahatmyam.

The four principal schools under the Rajasthani paintings are as follows:

Mewar school : It included Nathdwara, Devgarh and Shahpura sub-styles
Marwar school : It included Kishangarh, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali and Ghanerao styles
Hadoti school: It included Kota, Bundi and Jhalawar styles
Dhundar school: It included Amber, Jaipur, Shekhawati and Uniara styles

The above four schools were greatly shaped by the Mughal connection, which started when Raja Bharmal of Amber gave his daughter Jodha to Akbar in 1562. The matrimonial alliances of the Rajputs with mughals brought about the interesting and important changes in the various styles of paintings. These changes were visible in the dress designs, architectural details, art motifs, landscape patterns and the choice of subject matter. However, the ratio of this influence was unequal; for example, the Bikaner school showed more influence of Mughals in comparison to the Bundi and Amber schools.

Mewar School of Painting

Udaipur, as we know it today, is the former principality of Mewar. In the ancient as well as medieval times, Mewar was known to be a great centre of artistic and cultural activities.

The oldest manuscripts of Mewar painting include the ‘Supasanachariyam‘ and ‘Suparsanatham‘ painted in about 1423 AD. These show the traces of Apabhransa style, which can be identified with projecting eyes. The Mewar style as a distinct school emerged only by the end of 16th century.

Ragmala Paintings
Ragmala paintings are a distinct feature of Rajput miniature paintings. These are pictorial representation of Indian Ragas and Raginis. The mode and time of Raga is expressed through brilliant colours and colourfully dressed Nayak and Nayikas. They are usually dressed in contemporary royal fashion.

During the medieval era, Mewar passed through a turbulent period of political unrest, yet, the Rajput kings went on patronising the art and in fact helped it to grow up into distinct style.

The two rulers viz. Rana Kumbha (1433-1464) and Rana Sanga (1509-1539) were great patrons of art. Udai Singh and Rana Pratap are also known to have given refuge to the artisans and craftsmen. Pratap’s son Amar Singh produced a remarkable set of Ragamala painted with the help of these artists. This ragamala was the earliest-dated example of Mewar School and it was painted at Chavand.

The real beginning of a polished style of Mewar painting started in 1571 AD. By that time, it fully replaced the ‘Apabhransa’. One immediate reason of development of this school was that a large number of artists migrated from Mandu to Mewar after Baj Bahadur, the ruler of Mandu was defeated by Mughals in 1570. Thus, we can conclude that the new Mewar style originated as an offshoot to the Central Indian painting.

The times of Jagat Singh (1628-1652) , the Mewar painting reached its highest glory.

Important Features of Mewar Paintings

In these paintings, bright and brilliant red, orange, green, bright-blue colours have been profusely used.
Male and female figures have long noses, oval shaped faces, elongated fish-like eyes. This is the influence of the Apbhramsa style.
The female figures have been drawn relatively smaller than the male.
The males use loose fitting garments embroidered Patka and Turbans and the females usc loose long skirts, choli and transparent odhnis (veils).
The paintings of the birds, animals and trees are ornate, the flowers drawn in bunches, and the Hills and Mountains depicted in Persian style. Small hillocks and mounds have been inserted into the paintings.

Sub-styles of Mewar

The Nathdwara sub-style, Devgarh Sub-style and the Shahpura sub-style have developed from the Mewar style.

Nathdwara Paintings

Nathdwara, as most of you may know is a place near Udaipur, where the famous Shrinath Ji temple of 17^th century is located. Shrinathji is a 14th-century, 7-year-old “infant” incarnation of Krishna. The idol was originally worshipped at Mathura but was shifted in 1672 from Govardhan hill, near Mathura and retained at Agra for almost six months, in order to protect it from the men of Aurangzeb. Obviously, there was an amalgamation of the cultural traditions of the Braj and Mewar and that reflects in the Nathdwara school of paintings.

Here, a notable point is that the Pichhwai paintings are a type of the wall paintings of Nathdwara style. The main theme of the Nathdwara style is Krishna and his leelas.

Marwar School of Paintings

The paintings developed in the royal families of Kishangarh, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali and Ghanerao are called Marwar School collectively. The important & relevant features of this school are as follows:

Jodhpur Style

The Jodhpur style originated taking clue from the art of the Mandore Gate. Mandore, as we know was a 13th century capital of the Rathors, who later founded Jodhpur in 1459 as their new capital. These paintings have a lots of sand dunes depicted along with thorny bushes, deer, camel, crow and horses. These paintings have a folk character and are relatively lesser influenced by the Mughal traditions.

Bikaner Style

Bikaner style has more mughal features than any other style of the Rajasthani school of paintings. This was mainly because, many of the mughal artists were employed at Bikaner. The subject matters are portraits, baramasa, Ragamala, Bhagwavt Purana and Krishnalilas.

Kishangarh Style (Kishangarh School of Painting)

Kishangarh was a very small state but a very different type of artistic development took place here. This insignificant state was founded by Kishan Singh in the initial years of 17th century. The tremendous development of art took place under the local ruler Sawant Singh, a scholar, a critic and a renowned poet and well versed in Hindi, Sanskrit, Persian; who himself was a poet and used to write with a pen name Nagari Das. Over fifty books including the ‘Rasachandrika‘, ‘Bihari Chandrika’, ‘Utsavmala‘, ‘Padamuktavali‘ and ‘Rasik Ratnavali’ are some of the literary works accomplished by Nagari Das aka. Sawant Singh.

The story of Nagari Das’s life is also very interesting. He sat on the local throne at the age of 49 years. He was an ardent devotee of Krishna but carried in his heart the love for ‘Bani Thani’ a maid in his step-mother’s household. The love was so deep that he started worshipping her as Radha. This is how he called himself Nagri Das, literally servant of Radha.

Nagari Das took his poetic inspirations from a painter in the town called Nihal Chand, who was inimitable master in depicting the Radha and Krishna. Nihal Chand was the court painter of Nagri Das. He painted the celebrated Bani Thani. Sawant Singh was so deeply fell in love with his imaginary lover that he abdicated the throne within a span of 9 years to take recourse in Brindavan and worship his lover Radha as Bani Thani and himself live like his lord Krishna. He remained as a hermit in Brindavan until his death. Nihal Chand remained a painter even after his death for at least 16 years.

Main features of the Kishangarh Style:

Subject matter of Kishangarh school is widely varied and includes hunting scenes, Court scenes, Portraits of Kings, Nawabs, Emperors and Saints .
The romantic life of Radha and Krishna, influenced by the Geet-Govinda of Jaydev is one of favourite subjects of the Kishangarh painters.
Stories from the Bhagvat Puran and scenes from Bihari Chandrika by Nagri Das were also subject for the Kishangarh artists.
The most common theme in Rajasthani and Pahari School, Nayak-Nayikabheda has been most beautifully depicted in Kishangarh. Here, mostly Nayak is Krishna and Nayika is Radha. They have been shown as lovers in beautiful natural setting.
The chief attraction of Kishangarh School is the depiction of women. No where in any Rajasthani School, the women have been so beautifully painted. The faces are soft without being heavy and dry. Their faces are long with high and sloping foreheads, pointed long nose, bulging out well-cut-lips and long chins.
The eyes have got a special place in Kishangarh School. A lock of hair hanging near the ear is specially found in Kishangarh style only.

Bundi style of Painting

Bundi style developed during the times of Rao Surjan Singh. The location of Bundi was such that it favoured immigration of the artists from all sides.

These paintings exhibit pointed nose, thick chubby cheeks, small stature and use of brilliant red and yellow colors. The main subjects of these paintings are Krishna Leela, Rama Leela, Baramasa, hunting scenes, scenes of court, festivals , elephant, horses, battle scenes, horse race, flowers, trees etc. The best example of Bundi paintings is the Chitrashala made during the times of Maharao Ummed Singh.

Kota Style of Paintings

Kota is located only a few miles away from Bundi, yet it developed a different tradition of paintings in the medieval history. The subject matters were though same as that of Bundi.

Jaipur style of Paintings

Jaipur and nearby area including the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan is known as Dhundad region. The Jaipur style of painting started in 17^th century. The subject matters of this style are Ragamala, Bhagvat Puran, Durga Mahatmya etc.

Mālwa paintings

By Malwa paintings, we generally refer to the 17th-century paintings centred largely in Mālwa and Bundelkhand. The term Central Indian painting is also used for the same. It was an offshoot of the Rajasthani School. The paintings include a series of the Rasikapriya, Amara Sataka and Ragamala.

Pahari Schools of Paintings

The Pahari region comprises the present State of Himachal Pradesh, some adjoining areas of the Punjab, the area of Jammu in the Jammu and Kashmir State and Garhwal in Uttar Pradesh. The whole of this area was divided into small States ruled by the Rajput princes and were often engaged in welfare. These States were centers of great artistic activity from the latter half of the 17th to nearly the middle of the 19th century. The various schools are discussed here.

Basholi Painting

Basholi or Bashohli is located in Kathua district of Jammu & Kashmir. It is founded by Raja Bhupat Pal in circa. 1635 AD. It was known for magnificent places which are now in ruins and miniatures paintings of Basholi style. This style developed under the patronage of Raja Kripal Pal. Under Kripal Pal, an artist named Devidasa executed miniatures in the form of the Rasamanjari illustrations in 1694 AD.
Its main features are use of strong and contrasting colors, monochrome background, large eyes, bold drawing, use of beetles wings for showing diamonds in ornaments, narrow sky and the red border are observable in this miniature also. Basholi style of painting is characterized by vigorous and bold line and strong glowing colors.

Guler Painting

Guler has the longest tradition in the art of painting and is also known as birthplace of Kangra paintings.
In fact, the Guler style of paintings is the early phase of Kangra Kalam. About the middle of the eighteenth century some Hindu artists trained in Mughal style sought the patronage of the Rajas of Guler in the Kangra Valley. There they developed a style of painting which has a delicacy and a spirituality of feeling. The Guler artists had the colors of the dawn and the rainbow on their palette.
Guler painting is marked by liquid grace and delicacy. The drawing is delicate and precise. Subject matter of these miniature paintings are Bhagavata, the Gita Govinda, the Bihari Satasai, the Baramasa and the The style of these paintings is naturalistic, delicate and lyrical. The female type in these paintings is particularly delicate with well-modeled faces, small and slightly upturned nose and the hair done minutely.

Kangra Paintings

Guler style was followed by the third phase of Pahari paintings i.e. Kangra style. It developed in the last quarter of the 18th century. The Kangra style possesses the main characteristics of the Guler style, like the delicacy of drawing and quality of naturalism.
The name Kangra style is given to this group of painting for the reason that they are identical in style to the portraits of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra. In these paintings, the faces of women in profile have the nose almost in line with the forehead, the eyes are long and narrow and the chin is sharp.

Features of Kangra painting

Kangra Paintings depict verdant greenery. Naturalistic style is followed and a great attention is paid to detailing. The depiction of flora is made noticeable by the use of multiple shades of green. The Kangra artists adopted various shades of the primary colors and used delicate and fresher hues.
Shringar (the erotic sentiment) is considered as the Focal theme of Kangra paintings. The subjects seen in Kangra painting exhibit the taste and the traits of the life style of the society. The love story of Radha and Krishna was the main source of spiritual experience, which was also the base for the visual expression. The other popular themes were Gita Govinda by Jayadeva and Bhagavat Purana. Feminine figures are depicted very beautifully in these paintings with soft and refined facial features.
Kangra paintings are known for the lyrical blending of form and color. Colors made of vegetable and mineral extracts are used by the artists.

Kullu Mandi Style of Painting

Along with the naturalistic Kangra style in the Pahari region, there also flourished a folk style of painting in the Kullu-Mandi area, mainly inspired by the local tradition. The style is marked by bold drawing and the use of dark and dull colors.